Rafa Beinitez hopes for January joy for Liverpool as Maxi on the verge whilst Dossena and Voronin prepare farewells.
January is a strange month for being a football fan. For supporters of some teams, it is an exciting time, making grown men feel like giddy children, daydreaming about seeing a superstar wearing their team's strip. For others it's an awful few weeks, nervously checking Sky Sports News to see if your star striker will be soon kissing a rivals badge after a scoring a goal.
Tabloids boast a new exclusive every day, rumour mill websites are in overdrive and tales of people's aunties' best mates cousins spotting Lionel Messi in the Asda at Hunts Cross are ten a penny.
For Liverpool, this January has brought a renewed sense of optimism, with rumours of players deemed surplus to requirements on their way out and various exciting attacking players potentially coming in.
Andriy Voronin and Andrea Dossena both look certainties for the exit door (weather permitting) and they won't be too sorely missed.
Voronin was signed on a free transfer in 2007 and looked to be a shrewd bit of business after a decent pre season and a promising start to 2007/2008. He scored a screamer away to Toulouse in a Champions League qualifier and netted at Sunderland and at home to Tottenham before producing his best performance in the 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas. As Rafa reminded us again and again 'he is a player who has quality and can play between the lines.'
However, as the weather got colder, he got worse (strange for a player who hails from the Ukraine) and fans were getting fed up with his lack of consistency and, more likely, his hair. Nicknames like Voronica, Andriya and My Little Pony were never made up out of affection for the player.
After being sent out on loan, Voronin was not expected to be seen at Liverpool again but 2009 saw him get a handful of appearances, mainly as substitute. He even had the chance to be an unlikely hero in Lyon but it wasn't to be as his rushed shot hit the keeper's legs effectively spelling the end of Liverpool's Champions League hopes and his Liverpool career.
From Andriya to Andrea and if you would have known that Dossena's debut season included the final goal at the Kop End against Real Madrid in a five nil aggregate win and a lob over Edwin Van der Sar to complete a 4-1 win at Old Trafford then you would have guessed that the Italian would have been an excellent addition.
Those two goals will mean that Dossena's career will more likely be remembered as a week rather than a season and a half and he will surely go down as one of Benitez's biggest flops. Bought from Udinese for eight million pounds as a 'full back who liked to go forward', Liverpool fans soon realised that this was just managerial talk for 'can't really defend....at all'.
Countless right wingers got the better of him and when Hull City came to Anfield in December 2008, Bernard Mendy looked like Cristiano Ronaldo and Dossena looked (and turned) like Abel Xavier - yet somehow more ridiculous. He was no longer needed as a full back.
The two big game goals and an excellent performance at Fulham briefly put him back in the first team frame at left midfield, but that was as good as it got for Andrea Dossena, who looks to be signing for Napoli this week.
As with every transfer window, the majority of half decent players around Europe get linked to Liverpool but one rumour that has substance is the potential addition of Maxi Rodriguez. As soon as his name was first mentioned, the memories of that unbelievable strike in the 2006 World Cup came to mind.
Undoubtedly a player with ability who has a taste for the spectacular - he could add a bit of much needed invention to that right hand side. Something a bit different that could get the team out of trouble if it isn't performing and give our current right winger a bit of a break. Dirk Kuyt? Should be called Marmite, but whether you're in the love him or hate him camp (there aren't too many people undecided) there is no denying a different option is required.
Obviously there is an aspect of risk in the transfer and questions will be asked. Will he need time to settle? Why isn't every big club in for him? Why is he not a definite for South Africa 2010 ? Hopefully a change of country will be like a fresh start and if the deal comes off he will rekindle his best form.
Rafa's record in January has been mixed so far. Success stories can include Mascherano, Arbeloa, Fowler, Agger and Skrtel whilst the opposite end of the value-ometer will read Morientes, Kromkamp and, shudder, Pellegrino. Hopefully the players that come in this time will belong with the first group.
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why is there an element of risk at 1.5 million .... have a little think why dossena and voronin are out the door for lets say 6 mill and the boy maxi comes in for a fraction of that ... otherwise your articles fairly accurate
Fair point, in terms of money, it's not a risk. I just suppose adding a player that is so cheap with no one except argentinian clubs after him maybe tells us something. I don't know, hope not. Players take time to settle, can we afford a player not to settle in this current situation? Think its definately worth a punt but a risk never the less.
welcome to the real world mate ... this is what we've been reduced to ... shopping in the bargain basement where the liles of pompey , wolves and wigan usually frequent ... even stoke , the mighty mackems and fulham lay more out in the transfer windows now ... and why is that ... ask yourself that and study why the finances of the club decrees that